not wanting to defecate

[raypec007]

My kitty Pooh appears to have some discomfort and runs thru the house when she needs to poop or feels the urge to poop.  I take her to the litter box and after several minutes she will go.  There is no straining and I don't see any blood in her stool.  I've had her to the vet and my latest problem was her left anal gland was infected.  Got that all taken care of and even changed her food to a lower fiber thinking this might help.  She's behaving the same as she was before.  Other than that, her personality is the same.  I just think she is in some type of pain and we can't find out what it is.  The She went into the vet a couple months prior to this for a complete check up; blood work, urinalysis & thyroid.  Everything was great.  When all this started happening, I also took a stool sample and that was negative.  Not sure what else it could be unless there is something going on with her anal glands again.  She is grooming herself down there quite often and also chews on her rear paws.  I've looked at her paws and there is no issue there.  Any other suggestions?  Ive had prior posts with this same concern and thought it was resolved.  Best regards, Linda

[29sillygirl]

Gee. I should have checked your profile before responding.  See that  anal gland expression is different for cats and dogs.  Painful for kits...aww.  Also didn't know until Opus mentioned it that a cat's stool needs to be semi hard if that is right ....to keep anal glands from getting impacted.  

[29sillygirl]

Sorry kitty is having potty problems.  We seem to have a spate of them lately.

I agree with Opus on having her anal glands checked for impaction.  This is a common problem for my daughter's Yorkies.  She now can tell when she needs to have it done.
Isn't painful at all apparently and they feel better immediately.

April has a good idea on massage.  I do this for my 7 month old kitten ...and for myself (anal cancer survivor).  I discovered the technique quite by accident while having constipation and gas issues.  It helps to be sure!

Can't offer advice on supplements.  It is usually trial and error.  

Hope all is well soon.

[April162010]

ohhh i forgot...
every time you can and she is close to you, massage her belly toward her butt area

I massage my cats on the" chick butt" area since one of my cats ate a ribbon and the doctor told me to stimulate her and she poo the ribbon...thank god

You dont touch the"butt hole" just the sides around it and her belly ( just want to make sure)

may be if you massage her  she will get stimulate it...you know massages are good for everything..

good luck!

[April162010]

I use "hair ball" once a weel for my cats to help them with everything they eat.

Product name:
Laxatone Hairball Remedy
appx $6.97
any pet store has them...good luck  

Also give the kitten just wet food for a while to see if that helps.... amybe the dry food is hard to digest...

[opus88]

hi Linda, sometimes there are issues that take alot of investigation to actually find out what the problem is....the same with us humans, only we can communicate verbally while animals have to tell us in other ways when something is wrong......
I can understand your frustration, you have done all the right things and you would think this should have helped poor kitty.....
Did the Vet also check to see if the anal glands were IMPACTED and not just infected?
It sounds very much like she is definitely having pain, what is her stool like? sometimes if the stool is too SOFT it will not put sufficient pressure on the anal glands to stimulate them and thus become impacted. I would get your Vet to check this if he already hasn't....also what about IBD irritable bowel disease?

I'm also having problems with my Nemo, he's always constipated and I've tried so many methods of helping his bowels. yesterday it became urgent for him to go in for an enema. while doing the procedure my Vet discovered he has a bowel consticture approx 1" into the anal canal that is perhaps blocking the stool movement. So I too am on a search for what to use for him......a fiber is a NO NO as this would perhaps block the passage even more, so therefore going the softener route to see if a softer stool would pass???

its a long road of experimenting and reading to find the problems than to resolve as well as possible for these little tykes.

please post updates.
♥OPus